Cassin, << kah SEH, >> René-Samuel (1887-1976), a French jurist and humanitarian, was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize for peace for his work in promoting the legal recognition of human rights. Cassin was the president of the European Court of Human Rights and helped formulate the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1944, he also helped to set up the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and, from 1945 to 1952, he was France’s delegate to UNESCO. He was an important member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from its creation in 1946 until 1959, and he was its chairman from 1955 to 1957.
Cassin was born in Bayonne, France, on Oct. 5, 1887. In 1908, he received degrees in humanities and law from the University of Aix-en-Provence. From 1909 to 1914, he served as a counsel at the Court of Paris. During World War I (1914-1918), he received a severe shrapnel wound that caused him great discomfort for the rest of his life. After the war, he founded the French Federation of Disabled War Veterans. In 1916, he began his career as a professor of law at Aix-en-Provence. He represented France at the League of Nations from 1924 to 1938 and worked for disarmament. The League of Nations was an international organization formed to maintain peace after World War I. In 1929, Cassin was given the chair of fiscal and civil law at the University of Paris, where he taught until 1960. During World War II (1939-1945), he held several positions in the French government-in-exile in London. Cassin was 81 years old when he was awarded the Nobel peace prize. He died in Paris on Feb. 20, 1976.
